Helping Professions Business
By Bernadette A. Moyer

Doctors, lawyers, social workers and teacher are all in the “helping profession” and yes it is a business. It is how they earn their living they get paid and often they are well paid and most often they get paid whether they are successful or not.

My mother was a masters-educated nurse and her brother was a doctor, they were in the “helping professions” and they definitely cared about people and they wanted them to get well. They were also very well paid for their services. The medical field is a business. To a patient with a doctor who has helped them that doctor becomes almost God-like. And to the client who has a lawyer that has kept him out of jail that attorney is also almost God-like. Yet both the doctor and the attorney are doing their jobs, jobs that pay them. And pay them well.

Most lawyers get a “retainer” and are paid up front and you pay whether you win or lose. When you enter the hospital or any doctor’s office, the very first question you will be asked is “do you have insurance?” and next “who is financially responsible for your care?” It is a money game. YES they provide a service and yes you are the consumer. They may be in the “helping profession” but it is about being in business.

Would they do what they do for you if they weren’t getting paid for it? And what happens if they really aren’t helping you at all? And what happens when they stop getting paid?

Recently a family member went into the hospital with some mental health issues and after months of hospitalization he is taking 9-different medications over 20 pills a day and in less than two months has gained over 50 pounds and now has high cholesterol. He is only 24 years old. The medications are supposed to stabilize him and help him with his moods and anxiety. With the over 9 medications and over 20 pills a day he is still moody, crying often, does not smile, and continues to threaten harming himself. He is unhealthier than ever before and now not just mentally but physically too. Yet the “helping professionals” claim that he is “doing really well” and yet he repeatedly has one shocking episode after another.

My questions are should any human body be taking 9-different medications and over 20 pills in a single day? How could gaining 50 plus pounds in less than 2 months and while in a hospital atmosphere be considered “healthy” and “doing really well?”

I am someone that questions “helping professionals” and I am someone that looks for visible results. If you are helping and there are results, I am all in but if you are getting paid and the patient or the client or the students are not doing well, I am going to question whether this is what is best for them or for you.

When we are in need and are vulnerable, just may be when we need the helping professional the most and yet we may not have the frame of mind to discern whether they are actually helping us or if we are the ones that are helping their bottom line.

One of the best things about being married is in having a partner so that when you are not at your best, they can come in and truly have your best interest at heart.

Today I pray for the people that are most vulnerable and at the mercy of the “helping professionals” and that they truly are receiving the help that they need and are more than just a vehicle for financial gain. Amen

And Dear God, please do not let me live past the time when I am wholly able to care for myself …

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